Foam
by Tsunderellah
Summary: Raven is in love with the illusion of a goddess that saved him during a storm on his birthday. When fate washes a strange mute girl into the shores of his life, will he be able to grasp the bliss that is within his reach? Or will he aim for the impossible and watch his happiness dissolve between his fingers, like foam would off the crest of a wave?


**F o a m**

The Enchanted Series

…

Chapter 1: Ocean Eyes

_**[Indefinitely, we are drawn like magnets]**_

…

* * *

Knock.

"Raven, I've brought your breakfast." Lime knocked on her big brother's door, straining her ears for his reply. She heard nothing. Slowly, she opened the door and entered, carrying a tray of warm scones with freshly-picked strawberries from the country-side, mint tea infused with various Sanderian spices, and fresh sweet-cream, a swirling tower of it quivering slightly as the girl took quiet steps towards the bed, where a breathing lump covered by the intricately woven duvet snored.

The green-haired girl, who looked exactly like her father, the previous count of Ruben, with her seaweed hair and her bright ochre eyes, placed the silver tray on the bedside table, cluttered with books, a small oil lamp, quills for writing, and sheets and sheets of music. The younger of the two shook her head, smiling fondly at the mess.

"Raven, you're gonna have to wake up. Else, mother-queen'll be angry with you. I've brought you some breakfast. You know the chef made it especially for you. He knows how much you like scones." Princess Lime announced quite loudly as she pushed the heavy curtains away and opened the bedroom window, shivering briskly as the ocean air, as well as the sound of the waves below, greeted her. She slumped unto her big brother's bed, the motion rocking the bed hard. "If you don't, I'll jump on the bed…!"

She giggled when she saw her brother hug his pillow tighter, his eyes blinking rapidly in the incoming sunlight.

"Get out, Lime. I'm sleeping." Big brother's groggy voice growled as he dove further into the duvet, dragging his pillow along with him. Lime sighed.

"Brother, mother told me to wake you up and to get you dressed. I'll get into such trouble if you don't. _Please_."

Raven yawned from underneath the warm cocoon, already wide awake, judging from his voice, but still reluctant to get out of his comfortable safe haven. Although he pointedly ignored her by not replying, Lime noticed, she still continued to chatter.

"You went to bed early yesterday. In fact, I haven't even finished eating dinner when you excused yourself from the table. Did you stay up late again?" Lime said as she dipped her finger in cream, savouring the clean, milky taste of it. Raven scowled at the back of her head as he sat up from behind her.

"Why do you care?"

At this, Lime turned angrily to face her brother and curtly replied: "Because I'm your sister!" Her face then softened in sadness and she whispered: "We used to be such good friends when we were small… Ever since that accident on the sea, you've been different, and you've never told me why. Of course, you'd tell mother of your plight, but when you ignored your sister and chose to confide to your friend Elsword, I was heart-broken. I thought you thought of me as your best friend, as you sure were- and still is- mine. I ended up hearing of it through the grapevine. You fell in love with your rescuer, did you not? One of the sisters in the church that you were washed into from the shipwreck- or so Elsword had told me. "

Raven looked away from her sister. It was true- they used to be best friends, having grown up together alone in the great palace of Hamel, the seat of the monarchy in the entirety of Elrios, but ever since the prince's eighteenth birthday, which he had celebrated aboard a ship that was gifted to him by a princess of a faraway land, maybe hoping to attract his attention; the prince have never been quite the same.

It was a party of no special merit. There were dancers and bards and guests roaming the top deck of the wooden vessel as it rocked softly upon the oncoming waves. Of course, the queen was not present on the ship- busy with stately affairs she was- she had not been there for the past three birthdays of her son, something that somewhat pissed the prince with, but not enough to ruin his joyful mood. Prince Raven, before the tragedy that soon struck the ship, was a bright man, ingenious, creative and handsome. At the age of thirteen, to the glee of his mother-queen, he showed signs of being highly adept to machinery, able to create, upgrade, and disassemble all sorts of technologies- even once tampering with his mother's mainframe. Even though the prince took after his mother's rigid, serious personality, he was a happy, smiling type of person, which attracted the eyes of many a peasant and princess. This cheerfulness ended when on his eighteenth, the gifted boat surrendered to the might of the mythological Poseidon's storms. Raven was washed ashore where he was saved by one of the nuns in a nearby church. That was as much as Lime knew, and now, two years after the accident, the green-haired lady has had enough of her brother hiding from her; she simply must know the truth so that she, his self-proclaimed best friend, could help him overcome the sorrow that was obviously crippling him.

"Please, Raven. Let me help you… Please tell me what happened."

"You know, there's a reason why I didn't tell you. So please, don't press. " Raven replied after a long pause of silence, steely glaring at her, the intimidating sheen in his eyes positively feral. Yet having experienced a series of doors to her face and suddenly being avoided by her best friend, the desire to know; to understand; was more overwhelming than the unnerving grimace on her big brother's face. Unfalteringly, she kept her posture straight and rigid, telling her brother through body language that she will not back down. After a few silent minutes of staring at each other, Raven sighed tiredly, the mask of cool indifference shattering noiselessly.

"Lime…the reason why I didn't want to tell you is because… I didn't want you to think of me as weak. I know you see me as the immovable big brother that always stood for his principles. But that incident…it changed me. It changed one of those so called principles that I have always been firm about." Raven looked into his sister's eyes, and when he found the sparkling encouragement to continue- that no judgement has been passed down unto him, he continued.

"Remember when we were young, I promised you that I would never be like those kooky people on television that go all crazy for unrequited love? You know that I said that to make you laugh, but I truly did mean it. The way television portrayed unrequited love was ridiculous, with the protagonists losing appetite- even exhibiting signs of cholera- over something as silly as love… I really did not want to fall in love with someone who I am not sure that won't love me back… "

"What are you getting at, Raven?"

"…I have."

"What do you mean, big brother?" Lime's eyes widened, curious as to the details of this confession; so her brother's lack of appetite, sleepiness and general lethargy was due to a girl…? How utterly…adorable..! It was like her girlishness bubbled up to the top and was fizzing over. She simply must know the details. Raven, who stared at the intricate flowers woven upon his duvet, utterly embarrassed at this school-girl-like confession, did not notice his sister's sudden excitement over the topic. Nevertheless, he continued.

"I've been plagued with a voice of an angel." He looked into Lime's wide eyes. "I mean, the one who saved me had the most beautiful voice I had ever heard. I faintly remember sinking into the ocean, my breath gone- I was awaiting my death; and then as I everything began to darken, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist, and a small face pressed against my back. Afterwards, I remember a rushing sensation and then, I could breathe. I felt my lungs expand painfully taking in as much air as they could before I passed out from sheer exhaustion. Then, within my unconsciousness, I heard a song. It was the first thing I heard when I awoke from the brink of death; a song pulled me back to life. It was amazing, sis. The voice sang in an unfamiliar language yet I understood it all the same. I heard the crushing melancholy in the first few chords, followed by a rising hope by the middle of the song and a questioning stanza that was repeated across the song. Then, as if interrupted, I heard splashing, and then, you know the rest. Oh, I am not in love with the nun. She was quite…too old for me. Rather, I'm in love with a disembodied voice. Crazy, huh?" Raven sighed, inwardly berating himself for revealing too much to his sister. Best friend or not, it left him feeling vulnerable and as a man of great fortitude and strength, he especially did not like that. However, he felt lighter- but not too light to forget about the voice. He leapt off the bed to distract his already tumbling brain from being captured by that melody again by going into his closet to pick out the day's outfit.

Lime smiled widely. She could visibly see a burden being lifted from her brother's heart and that made her so happy.

"Well, big brother, I think it's lovely."

"…that I'm crazy?" His voice emanated from behind closed closet doors. Lime swung her legs absentmindedly.

"No, that you're in love. I'm already sixteen, but I've never been in love."

"Don't. It's terrible. You'll become crazy. All you'll think about is that person. All you'll dream about is that person. It's frustrating- especially if you don't even know if they exist."

"You know, brother, you're already twenty- a perfect age for you to ascend to the throne. Mother's been talking of it, and she plans to give you the throne on your next birthday. Before then, you really must find a wife to support you through it. It'll be tough, being king, you know. Mother's hair turned white early on in her reign before she met Father."

"Lime. Mother's always had white hair." Raven sighed as he emerged from the closet in his princely attire. The green-haired princess stood up from her place on the bed and inspected the scones on her brother's bedside, growing colder by the minute. Deciding on one, she dunked it in the cream and devoured it in a very unprincess-like manner.

"Chu lai. She dun hab white hair. She had black like yours." _Swallow. _"Otherwise, genetics don't really explain where you came from. Maybe you're a bastard?"

"Lime, I see your tongue is as unrefined as ever." The black-haired prince chuckled. He did miss this. He missed his sister's company, but deep down, he knew that he would return to his previous vegetative state if he ever heard that voice again. It just reduced him to nothingness, that voice. He couldn't think of anything else other than that haunting melody, and the divine delusion of perfection that he attributed to that song. Perhaps, it was a siren, trying to entice him to follow her to the depths of the sea. It'll take all of his strong will not to be sucked in by the song once again, but with his state of heart tender with unrequited love, he knew that he couldn't resist. He felt so sorry for the trouble he had caused his sister, but the wants of the heart and soul were too strong.

He knew that he'd be pulled in by that voice once again. If he ever heard the voice again, he vowed to find and woo the person behind it- for there is only so much sweet torture he could take from the pain of unrequited adoration.

A knock then resounded across the room, followed by a strained voice.

"My prince…? Have you awoken?" A chambermaid timidly asked through the door, her voice soft and quiet in the case that the crown prince was still asleep.

"Berthe, it's alright. His majesty has awoken." Lime replied, albeit a bit sarcastically at the 'majesty' bit of her answer.

"O-oh, princess…! I didn't think you'd be here. Pardon my rudeness as to not acknowledging you..! A thousand pardons, miss…!" Berthe wailed from behind the door, dreading the consequences of breaking the rule of ignoring royalty- not even once stopping to tell herself that she was no mind reader; nor can she see through solid oaken doors. Lime chuckled, amused.

"…Berthe, it's okay. Please come in and tell me what you have come to my chambers for." Crown prince Raven regained the authority in his voice. After the soft moment with his sister, he once again found his iron will and princely mannerisms and had wasted no time engaging it.

Swiftly, the door opened. A small girl with indigo hair and blazing teal eyes came to view. Small tears streamed down her pale- almost blue- face.

"Berthe, really. It's no big deal. We won't hold it against you." The green-haired princess said, smiling at the sobbing servant, which only increased her howling. The siblings smiled at each other uncomfortably, both unfamiliar on how to comfort someone who was crying. When the maid's tears had ceased, hiccupping softly, she told them the piece of business she had come to the prince's chambers for.

"Prince Raven, the Queen has requested your appearance at the throne room."

* * *

When Raven arrived at Castle Hamel's throne room, he was surprised to find his white-haired mother nowhere to be seen. Her two most trusted servants stood on either side of the lone throne in the room. It used to have two seats up on the elevated platform, but when his father, the king refused to accept the title- not because of his desire to abstain from the responsibilities of marrying a country's leader, but rather, he simply preferred to give the title of rule to his beloved queen- a gesture that no doubt made her smile, even if it was a small grimace. The Queen ruled with an iron fist. She placed laws that were harsh, but not lacking hard evidence of necessity. It was because of this intellectual severity that her people, not only in Hamel, but the entirety of the Elrios continent, trusted and respected her authority.

The Queen's upbringing of her children was even stricter. At the age of four, she trained her heir to the art of melee combat, never once stopping to let her little boy have a rest. Instead of playing with other royal children, which was the fashion then with nobility and royalty, he sparred with his mother who not only wrestled him into submission, but also berated and scolded him for being so weak. It was revealed to him years later that his mother-queen only did that to develop a drive within him- to help him find his core, his drive to live. Admittedly, he still had not found it, but at least he found himself appreciating the thought of his distant mother who cared for his future, especially since he alone could carry a burden as heavy as being king.

His sister was right, though. Finding a queen would most definitely lighten the burden; a soul mate that would not only help support him, but also comfort him, cherish him- and maybe even challenge him. His mother had borne unto him a strange desire to battle others, as a spar would not only be physically challenging, it'd be mentally challenging as well. If there was anything that Raven admired, it was intelligence- which is why simply cannot bring himself to hate his mother, for he understood the responsibilities that the crown resting upon her head demanded of her and he fully knew that she had calculated the situation properly and was taking the best possible route- not only for her, but also for her children and her people.

If anything, Raven admired his mother. Even if she was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

"Ophelia, pray tell, where is Mother? I have received summons from her." Raven asked one of the servants on throne duty in a super formal manner. Said servant regarded him with cool, calculating eyes.

"Her majesty has been intending to meet you for a formal rendezvous, my prince. I'm afraid a situation of sorts had arisen in the kitchen and she, along with King Ren had made their way to that part of the castle. If you wish it, I can escort you there." Ophelia gestured to the direction of the kitchen, her face displaying her infamously unnaturally unnerving poker face.

"Tis not necessary, Ophelia. I shall make my way there."

* * *

Raven heard the commotion before he even saw it. He heard pots and pans as they crashed onto the floor and swearing- lots of it- flying out off of the castle chef. Raven, poised for action, swiftly opened the doors to the large, spacious kitchen, where his mother and father stared with utmost fascination into the eyes of a small girl with clothing that were obviously too big for her, on a kitchen stool, nibbling animatedly on an apple, as if it was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted, its juice dribbling down her chin carelessly. His father, the cause of the commotion, was buried within a mountain of crockery he had accidentally knocked over in his clumsiness.

"Father, what happened?" Raven appeared, his sword still drawn. Ren, his father, smiled clumsily.

"Ah, worry not about it, son. I was merely knocked over by that little girl over there when she made a mad dash to that apple she's eating. By the way she ran to it, it's almost like she had never even had one."

Raven diverted his eyes from his ever-clumsy father to his mother-queen and the girl sitting on the chair next to her.

"Can you understand me?" Queen Eve said to the girl, who acknowledged her with a smile from behind the apple and an affirmative nod.

"What a fascinating creature this girl is!" the king exclaimed, thoroughly examining the small girl. For a human female, she was devastatingly beautiful. She was a tiny creature, with silk-spun golden hair and brilliant ocean eyes, so expressive and liquid that one could possibly drown in its cold, warm, loving, cruel depths- ever changing blue like the unfathomable depths of the seas, sparkling like the crests of the waves as light touch upon them. Her skin was pale like moonlight which only amplified the glow her smile adds to her enchanting figure.

She was beautiful and Raven, unconsciously, was aware of this.

She looked ethereal- much like the imagined visage of the angel that the prince had fallen in love with. Something in Raven was whispering sweet nonsense to his conscious, but was chased away by uncertainty.

"Hello there." The ebony-haired prince made his presence known to the sitting creature; he felt a spark of amusement flare in his heart when the small girl quickly turned around on her stool, eyes wide, her lips stretched into the smile of a child that had found something she had lost. She quickly slipped off the high kitchen stool and stood on her feet, her hands gripping the kitchen stool the way a toddler who had only started to learn to walk would. Her face showing flickers of pain, yet she was undeterred from her goal of approaching the young prince.

Out of gentlemanly etiquette, the prince approached her and offered his assistance and steadied her shoulder. A red dusting of colour snaked its way across the girl's pale face. With a force unimaginable, especially from a small girl, she tackled the prince to the ground, snuggling her apple-juice-stained face into the prince's frilled shirt, like a child would her favourite teddy bear. The child was strong, fully capable of knocking the wind out of Raven's lungs at will. The dark-haired prince smiled at his childish affection, feeling oddly content holding this stranger in his arms. The queen noticed this and knowingly smiled.

"Why, Prince Raven, that's the first time I've seen you smile in weeks..!" The amiable chef Denka appeared from the kitchen, a ladle in hand, dripping with the perfume of a stew full of rosemary and thyme. The alchemist chuckled as he stirred his stew pot, the servants' dinner bubbling away.

The girl looked at the prince beneath her, eyes brighter, much more enchanting than earlier, like she understood what the castle's head chef had said. As if finally noticing the awkwardness of their position on the floor, she scrambled off of the prince, blushing madly. Raven couldn't help but chuckle at her dainty adorableness.

"My son, I'm so glad to have you out of that dank room of yours. It's about time." Queen Eve spoke serenely to her young boy, monotonous yet not without a small spark of happiness. "This girl was found half-conscious on the outside the palace walls earlier this morning. The chef found her naked and sprawled on the beach while he was taking his daily stroll."

"Oh, is that so? Is she alright?" Raven inquired, for it wasn't every day that strange women wash up on beaches.

"Yes. She had a bit of hypothermia from the cool early mornings here in Hamel, yet as you can see, she is quite fine."

"That's good. Hey, little one. You still haven't told me your name." the crown prince asked her, turning to the small girl before him, who straightened in surprise. He did not only want to know by what name to call her by, but also to hear her voice. A part of Raven was suspicious of the girl ever since the first time he had seen her. She was unearthly, like angel on earth, a goddess amongst mankind. Divine amongst the mundane.

She was much like the physical embodiment of the voice he had so dreamt about. Yet, at the mentioning of her name, the girl's visage darkened. She then looked at the chef, urging him with liquid eyes to explain. The chef, who had been slicing a head of cabbage, looked over to girl and shook his head. "Ah, that won't do, your majesty. The lass is mute. She cannot speak."

Raven felt himself release what breath he didn't know he was holding. Since she did not have a voice, she could not possibly be the one to have saved the prince. He made this deduction the moment he learned of her muteness, yet why does he feel such disappointment? Perhaps the prince was unconsciously convinced that his search is over- that he had found her, the one he was looking for- only to realise that he was flicked right back to square one.

"Do you know where you live?" the king asked her. She looked at him meaningfully before she limped to the window and pointed to the sea.

"Ah, maybe you live across the sea? In mainland Elrios perhaps?" The queen supplied for her lack of voice. She shook her head vigorously.

A few silent moments until the king asked: "You don't mean that you live in-like, within the depths of the sea, do you?" jokingly- yet his eyes revealed a thinly concealed seriousness in the statement.

Her eyes found the king's eyes, the blue spheres crinkling in crippling sadness- as if she were about to cry. Her head bobbed up and down to answer the king's question. He stared into her ocean eyes in disbelief.

Instantly, Raven chuckled and gave her a pat on the head. "Little one, people cannot live in the sea."

As if offended, she turned to face the prince, her face scrunched up in contained anger, her little hands balled up into tight fists, her eyebrows knitted together in one angry knot, as if daring the dark-haired prince to a fist fight were he to say another word on the topic. Bewitched by her bravery, since he was a full head taller than she was, the prince laughed softly before backing off.

The queen looked at her husband's perplexed face. She had seen that contemplative look on his face before. It was like he was putting puzzle pieces in his head, as if trying to understand something unknown and difficult. Inwardly, she made a note to ask him later on about what he was thinking about, especially when she saw the dire, hard look in his eyes. Is there something about this girl that has made him so mentally agitated? Does he know who this girl is? As if feeling her eyes on him, the king quickly flung on a smiling mask, straightened his slackened posture and addressed his queen.

"Ah, dearest. Would it be alright if you excuse the girl and I? I believe she is tired, and needs to be taken to her bedchambers." The king recovered from his shock, his face, unreadable. The queen, slightly startled by his sudden request, was only able to nod.

Quickly, the king scooped the girl into his arms with a bit of protest from her, and exited the kitchen in a hurry, earning confused looks from his wife and son.

* * *

_Bleh. I've been wanting to write this for a long time, but I've been busy with Transcendence- which is not exactly writing itself, because I have troubles with action scenes and such. My editor is still trying to get me to work on it but eh. The usual. Read. Review. Or don't. ._._

_They don't call me tsundere for nothing. _


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